Solid color patterned stocking with split foot



March 5, 1963 R. B. KALE ETAL SOLID COLOR PATTERNED STOCKING WITH SPLITFOOT Filed NOV. 25, 1957 4 Sheets-Sheet 1 March 5, 1963 R. B. KALE ETALSOLID COLOR PATTERNED STOCKING WITH SPLIT FOOT Filed Nov. 25, 1957 4Sheets-Sheet 2 v-RT March 5, 1963 R. B. KALE ETAL. 3,079,780

soun COLOR PATTERNED sTocxING WITH SPLIT Foofr Filed Nov. 25, 1957 4She'ets-Sheet 3 RmHARD E. KALE and NORMAN J. LEMoNa INVENTORS BY mwxwmm@ ATTORNEYS March 5, 1963 R. B. KALE ETAL 3,079,730

SOLID COLOR PATTERNED sTocKING WITH SPLIT FooT Filed Nov. 25, 1957 4Sheets-Sheryl'l 4 INVENTORS RxcHAav B. KALE and NORMAN J. LE MONS,

ATTORNEYS lauxiliary'station K'.

'plate S3 which encircles the needle cylinder.

'anverso yarn from the immediately adjacent or contiguous area. Althougha yarn change could occur in the knitting of the heel H, sole S and toeT, the heel H, sole S and toe T Vare preferably Vknit of the same yarn,which yarn is preferably a cushion yarn to provide a cushion sole, heeland toe on the stocking.

As heretofore stated, the invention resides in the novel method ofanchoring incoming and outgoing yarns at the bottom of the patternedareas in the leg and at the start or top of the split-foot areas as wellas at the juncture of .the split foot with the ring toe courses. Inorder that the novel structure may be clearly understood, pertinentknitting instrumentalities will be described with particular referenceto FIGURES 6 through 14. With the exception of a special arrangement ofthe needle butts, the machine involved in the knitting of the presentfabric is of the conventional two feed type substantially as disclosedin said U.S. Patent No. 2,217,022.

As shown in FIGURE 6, the machine is provided with t two diametricallyopposed knitting stations, namely, a

'main or first knitting VstationK and an auxiliary or second knitting-station VK which are disposed at the respective right-hand andleft-hand sides of the machine when viewed with respect to the needlecircle shown in FIGURES 7 through 14. The knitting station K comprisesright-hand and left-hand stitch cams 6i), 61 and a top center cam 62.Corresponding cam 60', 61 and 62' comprise the The stations K, K' areprovided with narrowing picks 160 and widening picks 101, respectively.

As disclosed insaid patent, the sets of stitch cams K, K 'are:independently radially movable according to the desired pattern torender them active and inactive. The auxiliary set of s-titch cams K'`also includes a wing cam 64 spaced closely above the top center cam 62.In FIG- VURE 6, the cams are cut at the center of the auxiliary knittingstation K and, thus, opposite halves of such cams appear at the extremeends of the FIGURE. The usual raise cams are provided between the mainand auxiliary sets of stitchcams K, K', the needle raise cam at the backof the machine being indicated at 65 and the needle raise cam at thefront of the machine being indicated at 66. Conventional needle raisingswitch cams 70, 71 are provided at the front and at the back of themachine. These switch cams 70, 71 lare active for engaging the butts ofneedles during reciprocatory knitting of areas other than the split footF to eiect the usual widening and narrowing operations.

The knitting machine is provided with conventional selector jacks .Ieach of which is provided with a plurality of saw-tooth removable butts74, a master butt 75 and an auxiliary or leveling butt 76. Below thestitch cams are conventional jackV leveling or lowering cams 80, 86 andcircularly spaced series of pattern controlled selector plungers 81, 82,81' and 82, The needle cams are supported on a conventional needle camsupporting A conventional bed plate 84 also encircles the needlecylinder and is spaced beneath the needle cam supporting plate 83.

'The bed plate 84 has jack raising cams 8S, 86, 8S and 86 thereon whichserve to engage the master butts 75 of any jacks J selected by therespective series of selector plungers S1, 82, 81' and 82' to raisethese jacks and their needles to take yarn from the next succeeding yarnfeed finger then in active or lowered position.

Yarn feed stations 90, 90' (FIGURES 7 through 14) rare 'spaced above therespective knitting stations K, K'. The yarn feed fingers at station 90are indicated at a Vthrough g and the yarn feed lingers at station 90are l movement of the needle cylinder.

indicated at a' through g' in FIGURE 7. Some of the Y yarn feed lingersare omitted from the FIGURES 8 through 14 forrpurposes of clarity.

Referring to FIGURES 7 through 14, it will lbe observed that the needles(broadly designated at N) are di- 'needles 92, each of which groupsincludes substantially half of the needles. At least one medium buttneedle is provided between ends of the groups of short and long buttneedles 91, 92 these two medium butt needles being indicated at 93 and94.

In knitting a stocking, all the yarn feed lingers in sets 99 and 9G' maybe employed. However, -since the present invention is concerned onlywith the split-foot and the lower portion of the leg of the stocking,yarns Y-l, Y-2, Y-3, Y-4, Y-S and Y-6 are shown extending from therespective yarn feed lingers b, c, d, a', b and c in the pertinentFIGURES 7 through 14. It will be observed in FIGURES 4 and 5 that theyarns Y-l, Y-3, Y.5 and Y6 are knit in the respective leg pattern areas52', 52, 5t) and 50. Only the yarn tails appear in FIGURE 5. The yarnY-2 is knit in the heel H, sole S and toe T and will beY Referring toFIGURE 4, the knitting progresses from the top toward the bottom in thisfigure and the courses are marked by arrows indicating the direction inwhich they are knitted. `The needle wales are indicated at W-1 throughW-21. The partial courses shown in gusset 52 are indicated at C-lthrough C-4, and the partial courses in gusset 52 are indicated at C-1,C-2 and'C-S Those split-foot courses in FIGURE 4 are indicated at C-S,C-6 and C-7. It is apparent that a Ysubstantial numberY of wales arepresent between wales Wf-4 and W5, W-16 and W-17, and W-l and W-21respectively. It is apparent from the foregoing description that thediamond area 50 in the central portions of FIGURES 4 and 5 and thediamond area 50 in the right-hand central portion of FIGURE 5 are knitat the auxiliary knitting station K while the intervening gusset areas52 and 52' are knit at the main station K with true sutures being'formed at the iunctures of the latter area in a manner fully describedin U.S. Patent No.`2,217,022. Accordingly, only partial courses involvedin the knitting of the lowermost portions of the gussets 52, 52 and thediamond 5G will be decribed.

Those courses knitted from leftrto right in FIGURE 4, as indicated bythe arrows, are knit with clockwise movement of the needle cylinder inFIGURES 7 through 14, and thosev courses which are knit from right toYlett in FIGURE 4 are knit with counterclockwise movement of the needlecylinder. Comparing the partial courses C-3, C-2 of gussets 52, 52 and acourse P of diamond 5G in FIGURE 4 with FIGURE 7, it should be notedthat the partial course C-Z is knit with counterclockwise The extremeleft-hand loop (Wale W-14) in this partial course C-2 is held on thecorresponding needle while the penultimate partialV Thus, with thestocking and needles in the position shown in FIGURE 7, the extremeright-hand loop in course P, Wale 14, of the diamond 50 is not formeduntil after the final course in the gusset 52' (FIGURE 4) is completed,at the completion of which the yarn feed finger b is withdrawn fromaction. Y

With continued clockwise movement of the needle cylinder, the partialcourse C-3 is then knit from left to right in FIGURE 4 so the last threestitches at the right-hand end of the partial course C-3 are pulledthrough the previously formed rst three stitches at the left-hand end ofthe partial course P. Counterclockwise movement of the needlesN thencommences and, since the extreme right-hand stitch or loop in thepartial 'course' C-3 of the is partially withdrawn to where only mediumand long butt needles will engage cams 69, 61. However, during 'thewithdrawal 'of the main set of stitch cams K (see FIGURE 8) a leadingfew selected needles (bracketed at N-l) moving counterclockwise with theneedle cylinder,

engage the rig t-hand stitch cam 6@ Ibefore it is completely withdrawnso these few needles, which are shown as being three in this instance,take the left-hand side gusset yarn Y-S in the hooks thereof, but do notdraw stitches because the stitch cam 6l is withdrawn before the latterneedles N-l reach the same with movement thereof from right to left inFGURE 6. The subsequent short butt needles, although selected, are notraised high enough to take yarn Y-3 from linger d. lt should be notedthat the remaining subsequent short butt needles 91 are thus selected atthe niain station K for subsequently drawing stitches at the auxiliarystation K', as will be later explained.

it will be observed in FiGURES 8 and 9 that after the short butt needlespass the main yarn knitting station l, disposed beneath the yarn feedstation 9b, the medium outt needle $3 and then the long butt needles 92are selected at the group of selector lingers 82 and caused to ride upthe right-hand stitch carn eli so that stitches are then drawn with theyarn Y-S, since the set of stitch earns i( is only withdrawnsufliciently to miss the butts of short butt needles. Thus, referring toFIGURE 4, it will be observed that the yarn Y-3 is floated from Wale W-7to wale W-S, which Wale W-S is formed by the medium butt needles 93.This portion of the stocking is bracketed at B-S in FlGUlE 5.

As the short butt needles 9i, between the needles N-l and the mediumbutt needle 93, pass beneath the main set of yarn reed fingers 9S, yarnfeed finger c (which feeds the sole yarn Y-Z) is lowered to operativeposition (FIG- ULE 9), tL e yarn feed linger d having previouslyoccupied lowered position during the knitting of the rst side gusset S2.Thus, at the wale W-S the sole yarn Y-Z is introduced to needle 93 andsubsequent long butt needles S52 so that both the yarns Y-Z and Y-3 areknit together in partial course C-a in the rear half of the gusset 52(see bracketed zone B-fi in FIGURE 5), at which point the yarn feedfinger d, and yarn Y1-3, are withdrawn as hewn in the successive stepsof FIGURES l and ll.

As the needles N rnove counterclockwise from the position of FGURE 9 tothat of FGURE l0 (while floating yarn Y3 and then knitting yarns Y-Z,Y-S together at knitting station K), yarn feed finger a (which feeds theinstep yarn Y-d) moves into active position and three needles (in thisinstance) N-Z are selected by selector plungers The latter needles N-Zare immediately adiacent the needles N-Jl. With further counterclockwisemovement of the needles N, the bottom portion of the front diamond Si?moves in the vertical plane of the auxiliary knitting station K and theauxiliary set of yarn feed fingers 99' so that the selected short buttneedles in group N- corresponding to wales VJ-i3, W-lZ, W-l in PGURE 4,receive instep yarn Y-4 from the auxiliary yarn feed linger a' and knitthis yarn in partial course Q in plating relation with the yarn Y-S inthe next few wales, which are shown as three wales in FGURE 4 (seebracket area B-Z in FIGURE 5). Thereupon, the yarn feed linger b iswithdrawn (see FGURE ll) at the auxiliary set of lingers 99' to completethe diamond Si? whereby the instep yarn Y- is securely anchored in thecourse portion Q.

With continued counterclockwise movement of the needle cylinder, thoseneedles N-l, in whose hooks the yarn Y-S had previously been taken fromfinger a' at the main yarn feed station (see FGURE 8), and which arealready in raised position, take the instep yarn Y-4 in the hooksthereof. Fihus, stitches are formed both from the yarn Y-3 and theinstep yarn 145- at the auxiliary knitting station K' in wales JV-8, W-and W-l of partial course V (see bracketed area B-l in FIGURE 5). Thecourse portion V (area B-S, FIGURE 5) is then completed front right toleft in FlGURE 4 at the auxiliary knitting station K' on thecorresponding short butt needles $1 only (which were previously selectedahead of the main knitting station K), and it will be noted that thefinal stitch (wale W-3) at the left-hand end of the partial course V isformed on the medium butt needle 93 (FIGURE l2). The auxiliary stitchcams K' are withdrawn from action and the heel H of the stocking is thenformed from the heel yarn Y-S in the usual manner by the usual narrowingand widening operations in reciprocatory knitting, during which themedium butt needle 93 continues to hold the corresponding stitchthereon. It should be noted that all the intervening stitches then heldon the short butt needles, which are those embraced by the wales W-3 andW-lS in FIGURE 4, as well as the stitches of course C-3 in wales W-l6through W-l9 are held in the hooks of the short butt needles 91 duringthe knitting of the heel H (see FIGURE l2).

The sutures and lower portion of the heel H are omitted from the portionof fabric shown in FIGURE 4 so as to clarify the stitch construction ofother parte of the fabric, since it is apparent that the stitches in theheel H would actually be distorted in the blank areas in the oppositelower corner portions of FIGURE 4. Since the heel is knit in aconventional manner, a detailed illustration and description of thefabric and the manner in which it is knit is deemed unnecessary.

Upon completion of the knitting of the heel H, the auxiliary knittingcams K return to fully operative position and the machine continuesreciprocatory knitting, but in this instance, the instep yarn Y-4l isknit on all the short butt needles 9i and the sole yarn Y-Z is knit onall the long butt needles 92. On the other hand, the medium butt needles93 and 9d alternate in knitting with the two yarns Y-Z and Y-4 to form asuture at each side of the stocking along Wales W-3 and W49 at thejuncture of the sole and the instep portions thereof (see FlGURES 4 and13). Since the knitting of split foot fabric is, in itself, well known,a detailed description thereof is deemed unnecessary, the primaryfeature of the present invention residing in the fact that yarn, from aportion of which stitches were made at the main yarn knitting station K,is interknit in a contiguous course with other yarn from which stitchesare made at the auxiliary knitting station K.

During knitting of the heel H the auxiliary knitting earns K' arewithdrawn. However, during reciprocatory knitting of the instep l andsole S, the auxiliary knitting earns K occupy active position. lt isapparent, there` fore, that, whereas the long butt needles 92 are raisedto pass through the knitting station K by alternating act1ve or inwardand then outward movements of the switch earns 7d, 7l (FlGURE 6) inknitting the sole S (narrowing picks ltltl and widening picks lill thenbeing inactive), selector plungers 81, S2' are alternately controlled toraise the jacks I and corresponding short butt needles 9i to passthrough the knitting station K to knit the instep l.

As heretofore stated, the yarn change at the final course in the instep,and immediately preceding the knitting of the ring toe RT is effected ina manner similar to that in which the yarn changes are effected at theiuncture of the leg and the instep of the stocking. Referring to FEGURE13, it will be noted that both of the yarn feed lingers a and c occupylowered or operative position and the respective yarns Y-4 and Y-Z arebeing fed to selected needles. In order to lay the yarn Y-d in the hooksof sonic of the short butt needles without knitting the same, theleft-hand auxiliary stitch cam 61' (FEGURE 6) is withdrawn out of actionwhile the righthand auxiliary stitch cam 6u remains in action for asufficient length of time to raise a suilicient number of needles toinsure that the yarn will subsequently be securely anchored in thefabric at the juncture at the instep with the ring toe. ln thisinstance, approximately twenty short butt needles 91 are raised by theright-hand auxiliary stitch cam 6G' after the left-hand auxiliaryIstitch cam 61' has been withdrawn from action. These 4twentyrneedlesare bracketed at N-3 in FIGURE 14.

Said twentyshort butt needles N-3 are preferably located substantiallymidway between the medium butt needles 93 and 94 and have the yarn Y-4laying in the hooks thereof in FIGURE 14. The latter needles N-3 remainelevated after passing the auxiliary knitting station K'. The yarn feedfinger a' is raised out of action vand the right-hand auxiliary stitchcam 60' is also withdrawn from action as the last needle in group N-Smoves past the same.V Thus, the yarn Y-4 is held in the hooks of theYgroup of needles N-3. The preceding short butt needles 91 to the rightof the group N-3 in VFiGURE 14, will have already 'drawn stitches at theauxiliary knitting station K' and, as the long butt .needles 92 pass themain knitting station K, the main knitting station K moves ino fullyoperative position so as to not only raise .the long butt needles 92 totake the sole yarn Y`2 and draw stitches therewith, but to also raiseall the remain-v .ing`needles, including 'the subsequent short buttneedles .91.

It is yapparent that, as 'the short butt needles 91 are raised and takethe yarn Y`2 in the hooks thereof, they are subsequently lowered bytheleft-hand stitch cam 61 atthe main station K to form stitches therewith.Thus,

those needles N^3 in whose hooks the yarn Y4 had origi nally beentakenat the auxiliary knitting station K will take the yarn Y-Z from yarnfeed finger c at the main station K and subsequently draw stitches fromboth the yarn Y-2 and vthe yarnYY-4 to securely anchor the latter yarnstogether (see varea B-3, FIGURE 5). The needle 'cylinder then continuescounterclockwise rotation to complete the kknitting-of the ring courses,whereupon the machine goes into reciprocatory knitting to knit the toeT, as is usual.

It is thus seen Vthat we have provided a novel method of anchoringincoming and outgoing yarns in circular knit fabric on a two-feed ormulti-feed machine in which yarn which is being knit at one station istaken in the hooks of a few needles andris not knit at the particularstation and the latter portion of yarn is subsequently knit withyarnfrom the other of the two stations, or at a subsequent knitting station,to thereby securely anchor 'the two yarns in the fabric.

In the drawings, and specili'cation there has been set forth a preferredembodiment of the invention and, although s'pecic terms are employed,they are used in a generic and descriptive sense only and not forpurposes of limitation, the scope of the invention being dened in theclaims.

We claim: i

1. Astocking having a leg knitted Ain 'the form Cif-solid coloredpatterned areas in which adjacent areas are interconnected by knittedsutures, said stocking'having a split foot including an instep formedfrom an independent instep yarn and a heel and sole formed from anindependent sole yarn, an initial course in the instep having theincoming instep yarn knitted together with a few stitches kformed fromat least two adjacent areas of tte leg, and the sole yarn also beingknit together with a few stitches at the bottornot at least one of saidareas of the leg to thereby anchor the instep and sole yarns to therespective areas of the leg'.

2. -A stocking having a leg knitted in the form of solid color patternedareas including front and rear diamonds and intervening first and secondside gussets and being connected tothe adjacent areas b'y knittedsutures, 'a split foot including an instep knit of an instep yarnl and'a heel and sole knit of -a sole yarn independently 'of 'the instep yarnwith the heel andsole connected to the eppoi-l Asite sides 'of the'instep by knitted sutures, said instep yarn being introduced by beingiter'knitted with and in the same course and vwales as those formed bythe yarn present in the lowermost portion of the lfront diamond andanadjacent portion of one of the side gu's'set's for few wales, with theyarn from the latter side gusset rbeingV oated 'from said last mentionedew -wales to the heel, whereat the yarn from the latter gusset isknitted together with 'the sole yarn in a pluralityV of wales forming apart, at least, of the initial course in the heel tothereby anchorthe'frontdiam'ond and said adjacent gusset tothe instep `and to alsoanchor said adjacent gusset to the heel.

3. A tubular knit stocking having a reciprocally knit leg includingpatterned areas,` adjacent areas being k-nit of separate yarns and beinginterconnected by knitted-su-V tures extending at an angle to the walesand'courses of the stocking, the areas at the' bottom of the leg beings'ubstani tially'triangular with the point of one of the latter -areasterminating in a bottom course ofstitches at the front lower portion ofthe leg, 'said stocking also comprising 'a split Vfoot including aninstep and a sole each knit of an independent yarn, the yarn in saidinstep being different from the'yarn in said point of said one of theareas, and the rst course knit in said instep including stitches knittedinplated relation with stitches or the bottom course in said point.

References VCited in the le of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS1,801,280 VLawson Apr. 21, 1931 2,237,144 Housernan Apr. 1, 19412,360,668V Fregeolle Oct. 17, 1944 2,374,532 Fregeolle Apr. 24, 19452,543,172 Iavorek et al Feb. 27, 1

' 4.2,642,732 Thurston June 23, 1953 `,2,660,868 Naumann Dec. 1, 19532,663,175 Pons Dec. 22, 1953 v2,667,774 Allen Feb. 2, 1954 2,676,474Bouthillette et yal 'Apn 27, 1954 2,680,961 Thurston June 15, 19,542,800,782 Bridges July 30, 1957 2,856,762 Gell s Oct. 21, 1958

1. A STOCKING HAVING A LEG KNITTED IN THE FORM OF SOLID COLOREDPATTERNED AREAS IN WHICH ADJACENT AREAS ARE INTERCONNECTED BY KNITTEDSUTURES, SAID STOCKING HAVING A SPLIT FOOT INCLUDING AN INSTEP FORMEDFROM AN INDEPENDENT INSTEP YARN AND A HEEL AND SOLE FORMED FROM ANINDEPENDENT SOLE YARN, AN INITIAL COURSE IN THE INSTEP HAVING THEINCOMING INSTEP YARN KNITTED TOGETHER WITH A FEW STITCHES FORMED FROM ATLEAST TWO ADJACENT AREAS OF THE LEG, AND THE SOLE YARN ALSO BEING KNITTOGETHER WITH A FEW STITCHES AT THE BOTTOM OF AT LEAST ONE OF SAID AREASOF THE LEG TO THEREBY ANCHOR THE INSTEP AND SOLE YARNS TO THE RESPECTIVEAREAS OF THE LEG.